Australian Chamber Orchestra

A new work by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, a devotee of classical music, and Prokofiev’s witty piano miniatures arranged for orchestra provide contrasts to two Classical-era favorites: Haydn’s bubbly Symphony No. 83, “The Hen,” and Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Concerto with soloist Sharon Kam. Hailed by Time Out New York, Artistic Director Richard Tognetti and "his badass classical band ... don’t play New York nearly often enough. But, on the rare occasion that they do come in from Down Under, they leave an indelible mark on the city’s music scene."

Event Duration

The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.

Bios

Richard Tognetti

Richard Tognetti has been artistic
director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra for 25 years. Born and raised in Wollongong,
New South Wales, he has established an international reputation for his compelling
performances and artistic individualism.

He began his musical studies in his
hometown with William Primrose, continuing his studies with Alice Waten at the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music and later with Igor Ozim at the Bern Conservatory, where he was
awarded the Tschumi Prize as the top graduate soloist in 1989. Later that year, he led
several performances with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and was subsequently appointed
as the orchestra's lead violin and later its artistic director. Mr. Tognetti is also the
artistic director of the Festival Maribor in Slovenia.

Mr. Tognetti performs on period,
modern, and electric instruments, and his numerous arrangements, compositions, and
transcriptions have expanded the chamber orchestra repertoire and have been performed
around the world. As a director and soloist, Mr. Tognetti has appeared with the Orchestra
of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Hong Kong
Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Irish Chamber Orchestra,
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, and all of the
Australian symphony orchestras.

Mr. Tognetti co-composed the score
for Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell
Crowe, as well as the soundtrack to Tom Carroll's surf film Horrorscopes. He also
created The Red Tree project, inspired by Shaun Tan's book, and co-created and
starred in the 2008 documentary film Musica Surfica. Most recently, he provided
additional music for Russell Crowe's directorial debut, The Water
Diviner.

Mr. Tognetti was appointed an
Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010. He holds honorary doctorates from three
Australian universities and was awardedthe title Living National Treasure in 1999. He performs on a
1743Guarneri del Gesùviolin, lent to him by an anonymous Australian private
benefactor. He has given more than 2,500 performances with the Australian Chamber
Orchestra.

Australian Chamber Orchestra

This year marks the 40th
anniversary of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Renowned for its inspired programming and
unrivalled virtuosity, energy, and individuality, the orchestra's performances feature
popular masterworks, adventurous projects that span multiple artistic disciplines, and
pieces specially commissioned for the ensemble. Founded by John Painter, the ACO originally
comprised just 13 musicians. It has grown to include 20 musicians (three part-time), giving
more than 100 performances in Australia each year in addition to touring
internationally.

The orchestra performs everywhere from the red-dust regionalcentersof
Australia to New York night clubs, and from Australia's capital cities to the world's
most prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's
Wigmore Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Birmingham's Symphony Hall, and Frankfurt's Alte
Oper.

The ensemble has recorded for the world's top labels; recent recordings have won
three consecutive ARIA Awards. Documentaries featuring the ACO have been televised
worldwide and have won awards at film festivals on four
continents.

Sharon Kam

Sharon Kam is one of the world's
leading clarinet soloists, having appeared with renowned orchestras in the US, Europe, and
Japan for more than 20 years. Mozart's works for clarinet have been artistic focuses for
Ms. Kam since the beginning of her career, including her performance of the composer's
Clarinet Concerto in A Major with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of
Zubin Mehta when she was only 16. A short time later, she performed the Clarinet Quintet
with the Guarneri String Quartet at Carnegie Hall. As part of Mozart's 250th birthday
celebrations in 2006 at the National Theatre in Prague, her interpretation of the Clarinet
Concerto was televised live in 33 countries and is now available on DVD.

As a passionate chamber musician, Ms.
Kam regularly works with artists such as Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Enrico Pace, Daniel
Müller-Schott, Martin Helmchen, and the Jerusalem Quartet. She is a frequent guest at
festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Heimbach, Rheingau, Risør, Cork, Verbier, and Delft. She
is also an active performer of contemporary music, performing works by composers such as
Krzysztof Penderecki, Herbert Willi, Iván Erőd, and Peter Ruzicka.

Ms. Kam's versatility in a variety of
musical genres-from classical to modern music and jazz-is reflected in her diverse
discography. She has twice received the ECHO award for Instrumentalist of the Year. Her
American Classics disc with the London Symphony Orchestra-conducted by her
husband, Gregor Bühl-was awarded the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Her most
recent recording is a CD entitled Opera!, featuring transcriptions of operatic
arias arranged for clarinet and chamber orchestra. The release was accompanied by an
inaugural tour that featured Ms. Kam with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn,
conducted by Ruben Gazarian.

In the 2014-2015 season, Ms. Kam can
be heard at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, 92nd Street Y
in New York, Kölner Philharmonie, and London's Wigmore Hall, among other venues. She will
be on tour with her Opera! repertoire and as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra.

Audio

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 (Rondo: Allegro)

Sharon Kam, Clarinet | Haydn Philharmonia

At a Glance

SERGEI PROKOFIEVSelections
from Visions fugitives, Op. 22

Each of the 20 pieces that make up Prokofiev’s Visions
fugitivesteems with a distinct, vibrant
personality. With a range of contrasting moods from solemnity and
boisterousness to wit and violence, Prokofiev’s phenomenal pianism is reflected
at every turn. Russian violist
and conductor Rudolf Barshai arranged 15 of the Visions fugitives for strings for the Moscow Chamber
Orchestra during his time as the ensemble’s artistic director. The version on
this afternoon’s program is a combination of the original piano work and
an arrangement for strings by Barshai and Richard Tognetti.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZARTClarinet
Concerto in A Major, K. 622

The Clarinet Concerto dates from the last months of Mozart’s
life and stands as the last purely instrumental work the composer produced. Mozart
took full advantage of the clarinet’s timbral abundance, including extended
sections to showcase each of them—from the crystalline upper register to the
husky resonance of the deepest—as well as passages that emphasize the contrast
by requiring the soloist to quickly jump between registers.

JONNY GREENWOODWater

Multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood has composed in a variety of classical genres.
Water is the result of his collaboration with the Australian Chamber
Orchestra during his residence with the ensemble in 2013, inspired by British
poet Philip Larkin’s short lyric poem “Water” from The Whitsun Weddings.

JOSEPH HAYDNSymphony No. 83 in G Minor,
“The Hen”

In the early 1780s, Haydn began to turn his attention away
from his everyday duties with the Esterházy family toward a burgeoning international
demand for his music. The G-Minor Symphony was thought to be so remarkably
good-natured that its Parisian audiences dubbed it “La poule” (“The Hen”).
Though the reason for this nickname remains unknown, it was perhaps inspired by
a moment not far into the first movement, when the violins launch into an
amiable new major-key tune that is arguably somewhat reminiscent of farmyard
scratching and clucking.